Chapter 25

To say Draco was different would be an understatement, Theo noted. He knew that the boy was under a lot of pressure; his own father had all but told him that the Dark Lord had given Draco a personal mission. What that mission was, no one knew; it was between the Dark Lord and Draco.

But he knew from the way his friend was withdrawn, that it must have been something of monumental consequences. Something impossible, which Draco was not meant to achieve. Something Draco was meant to fail at, as a punishment for his father, for failing and ending up in Azkaban.

And Theo was worried; he knew a war was coming, anyone could see that. What with the constant foray of attacks and the dim air that surrounded the school as day after day their peers got news of the loss of a loved one. The war was coming, whether any of them liked it or not, and it was only a matter of which side one stood on for it all.

He hated it, if he were honest. He lost his mother because of it all. She had faced punishment at Voldemort's hand, when her husband had failed to kill the Potters many years ago. When James and Lily had escaped one of their excursions, bringing down several Death Eaters, and thus fulfilling some of the criteria of the so called Prophecy, Voldemort had been furious, and he had taken it out on his mother.

It had been the day that his father had turned slowly against the Dark Lord. He had raised Theo to keep up appearances, to protect himself, but not to follow blindly without knowing the full consequences his actions had.

And for all intents and purposes, his father was a Death Eater, for they knew what would happen if he simply defected. But his loyalty was gone; he sabotaged missions discreetly, and would inadvertently help in the capture of other Death Eaters.

He was no saint, but his father refused to be a puppet any longer. And in doing so, he had insisted Theo keep up with appearances, despite his friendships, and be careful with who he trusted.

It was why he was spying on Draco at the moment, wanting to know whether he could truly trust his friend or not. He needed to know if Draco was his father's son, or if he was a man of his own making. While he wanted to believe in Draco, he couldn't risk it. He was a Slytherin, and he needed to trust his own instincts.

His friend had been dodging them for the majority of the year, keeping to himself at meals, and coming back to the dorms late at night. He was hiding something, and Theo needed to know just what it was that his friend was keeping from them.

And so, to his surprise, he found himself heading to the library after dinner. But Draco moved past the restricted sections, or any of the aisles that could have any sort of information that would be helpful to him. What was Draco even doing in the library? While his friend was nearly the top of their year, he had often avoided that place like the plague, stating in second year it was far too common for him to bother spending his time at. So what was the truth of it all?

He followed his friend through the stacks, as he moved to one of the back corners, and set down his book bag. Was his friend truly here to study, or was there something else at play?

He held his breath, as he heard someone else approach, and quickly made sure he was out of sight as he saw Hermione Granger make her way to where Draco was sitting. He braced himself, for if Granger was here near Malfoy, a spat would no doubt take place. The two had so rarely gotten along when they were younger, and he remembered many nights which Draco complained about the witch who held the top ranking in their year, if not the majority of the school.

But it never came. There was no yelling, or hexing, or cursing. Instead, she moved closer to him, and smiled, before slinking her arms around his neck. He could see wards begin to erect themselves, but not before he saw Draco press his lips to Grangers, and pull her close to him.

He dropped his mouth in surprise, as he quickly turned to leave the two alone.

His first thought was that he was using her, trying to gather up information on whatever Potter and Dumbledore were up to, but Granger would never have allowed that. She was many things, if not loyal to a fault. Plus she was too bloody clever to allow that sort of thing to work on her. If she was with him, it was not because he was trying to get information out of her but because she truly believed he had changed. And while Gryffindors were too bloody trusting, he knew that it wasn't that simple. Voldemort wouldn't have Draco seduce a mudblood despite the revenge it would serve against Lucius. If he wanted to gather information from Granger, there were other ways.

It was too petty, too thought out. Voldemort preferred violence and action, and he was certain whatever he was having Draco do was not as simple as seducing the Golden Girl and then leaving her broken.

Which meant that he truly had feelings for Hermione Granger. And that Draco was in turn, buggered.

Because if he had fallen for a girl who his family would have no issues with killing, it would be harder for him in the long run. He would have to deal with the knowledge that their love was forbidden, in the time of a war when they stood so strongly on other sides, regardless of their feelings. It didn't matter that Draco might not have believed in it all, he would be killed if he tried to flee, his mother would be killed.

But still, Theo felt a sense of satisfaction at that, pride knowing that despite it all, his friend was growing, changing, to become a better person. That he hadn't let years of his father's influence shape who he was as a person. And at the end of it, Draco would be a friend who stood by his side and not opposite to him.

To say Draco was furious would be an understatement. He hadn't wanted to believe his father was capable such a heinous thing, to kidnap Hermione and try and use her to resurrect his aunt who had been dead for years. He had wanted to side with Bellatrix and bring blood purity back, to put others in a state of fear, which they had just over come after the last war.

He had wanted to believe his father would change, to put his son's happiness first for once in his life, but of course that was too much to ask. He was always meant to just be his father's son, blindly following along whatever agenda had. To be the perfect pureblood son.

But he couldn't do that, not when it meant having to put aside his own morals and thoughts. Not when he had just got Hermione back because she was a brilliant strong witch, who fought tooth and nail to make her way back to him. Not when there was a chance, if things had gone differently, that she wouldn't have made it back.

He swallowed hard, trying not to let those thoughts get to him. He needed to be stronger now, to get to his father before he had a chance to flee again. This time would be different; he wouldn't be able to avoid Azkaban as he had he past two wars. His money couldn't buy his freedom this time, not after he attacked Hermione Granger, the beloved war heroine. Not when her testimony itself would be enough to put him away for the rest of his life.

Harry had tried to insist that he stay behind, but he couldn't, not after his father had once again nearly cost him his happiness. Not when his family had once again been the cause of hurting Hermione. No more.

So he stood with his wand at the cottage where Hermione had been held, recognizing it as one of the many Malfoy properties that had not been used in years. How dare his father use their family inheritances to hurt her?

He calmed himself, knowing that despite the stunner Hermione had cast, Lucius would not be down for long. He would take the chance to try and destroy everything, before he fled. For he couldn't leave any trace of the process, despite wanting to use it himself.

The Aurors surrounded the perimeter, moving in, as Draco held his wand up. They raised anti-apparition wands, and the floo to the cottage had been shut off, trying to prevent Lucius from fleeing. And from the human presence revealing spell, they knew that Lucius was still inside.

He moved forward, to break down the door. He was sure Lucius knew they were coming, how could he not when Hermione had escaped from their custody? The cottage was heavily warded, as most Malfoy properties were, but regardless of what Lucius had thought through, he hadn't expected Draco to find them, and thus hadn't kicked him out of the ward permits.

It was how they had all but been able to walk straight up to the front door with his team of Aurors.

He wasn't surprised however when he found the door unwilling to budge.

Harry nodded at his team, who used a blasting charm to blast the door out of the frame, and immediately, several spells shot out the door, knocking out the Aurors who had cast the charm.

He raised a shield charm, and pressed forward, casting stunning spells as he made his way into the cottage that he had spent many family trips with his mother during his childhood. He felt anger pour through him at the thought that Hermione had been tortured and nearly killed at the same place where he had so many happy memories. How dare his father do this?

"It's over, Lucius!" He yelled out, as he moved through the rooms, casting spell after spell to try and hit his father. "Even if you somehow escape, we know you're responsible. No amount of wealth will buy you out of this one. Hell, after this, you'd be lucky if you were allowed access to any of the Malfoy family vaults."

"You cannot kick me out of my own family!" he heard a snarl from the other room, "I still am the head of the Malfoy family. You cannot take it away from me."

"I'm sure Wizengamont will side with me after all this and agree to strip it from you," Draco said coolly. "After all that you've done, you do not deserve to represent the family name."

"And you do?" Lucius said, as he took out three more Aurors, leaving just him, Harry and two others with them. "You, the son who has failed me since the day he was born. The son who was always behind to a mudblood. Who was spoiled enough to run home at the slightest confrontation, but couldn't even handle the tasks given to him. Who denounced his values and fell in love with a mudblood, with every indication of throwing away his family's legacy for her. You gave up on our family first! I was trying to help you! To rid you of the mudblood so you were free to marry someone worthy; someone who wouldn't dirty the Malfoy family line."

"Doesn't my happiness mean anything to you?" Draco asked, looking his father in the eye. "Do you not care about all I've endured? That Voldemort wanted me dead because you failed him. That you all but threw me at him trying to redeem your mistakes. That I thought I would die in the war, and I was so lucky to get a second chance, to put the past behind me and to become a better person. To fall in love with a woman who sees me as a person, and not a possession. Do you not care about me, and not just as your heir?"

"Why should I?" Lucius said, walking out in front of him, as he hexed the Auror to his left, "You've been letting me down for your entire life. Why would I care about you now, after everything you've failed to achieve? Even now, our name is still strong enough that you could have gone into politics, as Malfoys are meant to. Instead, you are running around, like a muggle, trying to capture the ones who were our allies."

"Your allies," Draco said, nodding at Harry as he kept his father distracted. "Bellatrix was more than happy to sacrifice me as well."

"Then you should have died," Lucius hissed, "You should have died serving to better the world, and help us rid it of the mudbloods and muggles. You should have claimed your family's birthright."

The Auror to his right, tried to use the distraction and stun Lucius, but the man moved quickly, and deflected it as he raised he cast Sectumsempra at the Auror.

"No!" Harry yelled out, as he watched in horror as the man fell. "You're not going to get away with this, Lucius!"

"You are not going to bring me in," Lucius said firmly, as he used the distraction to his advantage. "Now Potter, I believe this is between my son and I."

"No, it's not," Harry stood firmly, "I'm his partner, which means I'll fight by his side until the end. Stupefy! Expelliarmus! Mobilicorpus!"

Lucius dodged the spells lazily, as he laughed, "Is this the best you can do, Potter? How did you manage to bring down the Dark Lord if this is your duelling ability?"

Harry didn't budge, as he cast spell after spell, increasing the pace, and Draco watched as his father worked harder to try and dodge them, focusing his energy all on Harry.

"Stupefy," Draco cast silently, as he watched the spell hit his father in the back, and he instantly fell.

"Nice work, Partner," Harry nodded, and Draco began to bind his father.

"Call the mediwizards," Draco said, referring to the Aurors who had fallen, "They need help right away."

Harry did so, as after he ran over to the one who had Sectumsempra cast upon him, and instantly began casting the counter curse, to bring the bleeding to a halt.

Instantly, as the wards were raised, the cottage was swamped with more Aurors and Medics.

"Let's bring him in," Draco said tiredly, as he referred to his father, who was still limply on the ground. He could hear the others talking in the background, about how Draco himself had brought his father down, and knew instantly all of this would be in the Prophet in the morning.

It was infuriating, because he knew the Aurors gossiping were the same ones who had all but denounced Draco earlier, claiming him to be responsible for Hermione's kidnapping, and it frustrated him to no ends.

He sighed, as Harry indicated to him to go, and he did. He had brought his father in, and now all he wanted to do was see Hermione.

Hermione lay on the bed in the hospital ward, feeling slightly worried. She had been here for the better part of a few hours, while Draco and Harry were off trying to bring in Lucius. She knew that with a team, they would be far stronger and more capable to bring him in, but she was still worried one of them would get hurt trying to do so.

"Mummy!" she heard a voice, and she instantly sat up as her daughter raced into the room, followed by Andromeda and Narcissa Malfoy.

Rose jumped into the bed and hugged her tightly, and Hermione smiled as she held her daughter in her arms, feeling thankful that she was here right now. She had been so worried that she would never get to see her child again, but it was over, and she was safe.

"Rose," Hermione said softly, as she rubbed her daughter's back. "I missed you so much, darling."

"I missed you too, Mummy," Rose sniffled softly, and Hermione held her tighter, "Please don't leave again?"

"We'll give you two a moment," Andromeda smiled at her softly.

She nodded gratefully at the two women, not even registering that it was one of her first times meeting Draco's mother as his girlfriend.

"I won't leave you again, okay Rose?" Hermione promised her daughter firmly, "I'm not going anywhere, darling. I'm going to always be here for you, I promise."

Rose buried her face into Hermione's chest, and she held her daughter tightly, as Draco entered the room.

"Is everything okay?" she asked him, feeling slightly worried. He moved closer to her, sitting at the edge of her bed, before wrapping an arm around her. She leaned into him, as he rubbed Rose's back with his free hand.

"Everything is fine," he said, giving her a smile. He kissed her forehead, and she felt a sense of relief. It was finally all over. She was home, and she was surrounded by her family.

"Thank you," she murmured to him softly, "I love you, Draco Malfoy."

He smiled, looking a lot lighter than he had when she had been with him at the Auror's office hours earlier. "Thank you for coming home. I love you too, Hermione Granger. And I love you, Rose."

Rose perked up as she smiled at Draco, "Mummy, I like Draco. Can we keep him? He was really nice to me when you were gone."

She smiled at Draco, "As long as he's fine with that."

"I'm not going anywhere," he told her firmly, grinning at Rose.